


Heartbreak in the Hinterland

by Captain_Mori



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Merfolk AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 16:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8631076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Mori/pseuds/Captain_Mori
Summary: Seeking solace after a broken heart, you encounter Merman!Reinhardt after throwing your engagement ring into the lake. (Uses Female Reader Pronouns)





	

Deep in the Odenwald, nestled in the mountainous uplands of the Kurfürstentum von der Pfalz, a historical territory whose imperial vicars were ranked among the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, lay the crumbling ruins of a Castle partially submerged in the Eutersee.  
You had travelled to the isolated spot here out of desperation. Your cold-hearted Fiance had crushed your heart after leaving you at the altar, and you had travelled light, seeking solace in isolation and grief. You did not need him.  
Looking out towards the deeper parts of the lake, you clambered up onto the one remaining intact roof of a half-fallen tower that poked out of the water like a giant lilypad as you clutched your engagement ring in your fist.  
You had been so excited to get matching rings, and now the ring was a heavy reminder of how your Fiance had betrayed you with his callous deeds. You had wanted to be together forever but forever would never come.  
Taking a deep breath, you threw the ring into the lake’s depths with a wordless grunt.  
It hit the water and sank far from sight. Satisfied, you turned around to climb down off the roof.  
“Excuse me, Fraulein?” a loud and clear voice came from behind you.  
You turn cautiously, and to your surprise, a half-naked and powerfully-built man with a lion’s mane of white hair on his face and a pair of wistful eyes was rising from the water supported by a waterspout that obscured a girthy copper-red fluked tail. A Man Mermaid-- a Merman, you wonder?   
He holds out his lion’s paw of a hand out towards you.  
“Did you drop this ring?”   
The ring on his hand is grandiose, a heavy opulent thing with twisted gold vines and a giant red ruby that glows with a hidden flame inside its faceted depths.  
“No.” You say, turning to leave.  
“Excuse me, Fraulein?” The merman asks again. “Is this your ring?”  
You turn back to face him again. The ring is different this time; a slender graceful silver ring woven as if by the moon’s light and bearing a beautiful deep blue sapphire cut to resemble a star.  
“No.” you say firmly, turning away once again. You are sure that you are hallucinating and just want it to be over. Mermaids are a child’s fantasy, and you are a grown woman.  
“Good.” he mutters under his breath as you walk away. “You are indeed honest. --Fraulein?”   
Once more, you turn to see him, his hand held out towards you, this time holding your ring.  
“This is important, isn’t it?”  
You stare at the ring in the man’s large hand in mute shock, and you realise it is your discarded engagement ring. It might have been important to you once, but since then it is worthless, and your eyes grow moist as buds of hot tears descend from your eyes.  
“I’ve never seen that ring before in my life.” you say with a shaking voice, briefly looking at the merman’s face. His face is puzzled, as if pressing you for further information.   
“It’s not mine. Throw it away somewhere, I do not want to see it.” you sob, struggling to hold back your tears.  
Noticing, the Merman withdraws from his waterspout and awkwardly crawls up to you to cup a warm hand to your face and wipe away your tears with a gentle stroke of an oversized thumb. His hands are warm, and despite enjoying his touch, you start crying more. He awkwardly places his arms around you and you bury your head in his warm embrace as all your sadness gushes forth from you.  
“Very well then,” the merman softly says, his voice barely audible above a low rumble. “I shall dispose of it.”  
You barely register what the merman has said, but curiosity draws you to look as that awful ring begins to levitate a few inches off his palm, before it shatters into thousands of sparkling pieces of golden dust.  
You gasp in fear, but also relief.   
“Is it gone?” you quietly ask, holding onto the Merman’s warm body, your voice still somewhat reedy from the shock of seeing your old ring disappear in such a spectacular fashion.  
“It is gone.” The Merman says, and he lays a gentle kiss on your forehead. “There is nothing to fear from it anymore.”  
You startle a little bit from the sudden show of affection, then calm yourself. He is not your wicked Fiance, though by all rights and purposes he should not exist-- Mermaids were children’s stories after all.  
“I am sorry if I startled you,” the Merman apologises, holding you close to his chest. “You must be burdened by a grave sadness, I hope I did not frighten you too much.”  
A little less teary, you look out towards the lake and say,  
“I’ll be fine,” you say, hesitant to lean your head back on his chest at first, “Though you did surprise me. I thought I was hallucinating.”  
“Hallucinating?” The man chuckles, the motions reverberating through his powerful build. “I assure, you I am very much made of flesh and blood.”  
He holds out his giant hand in front of you and you place it falteringly on top of his upward facing palm.   
“See?”  
You smile, and hold onto it for a while longer, then realise and quickly withdraw your hand in embarrassment. Your pulse quickens a little bit as you watch the Merman’s tail fluke flick lazily in the lake’s edge.  
“I can’t believe it’s actually gone.” You sigh in relief. The last physical reminder of your connection to your Fiance, gone in a puff or rather a cloud of golden smoke.   
Reinhardt doesn’t speak at first, and shifts you to a seated position on his lap as he leans back, supporting his arms on the stone behind him .  
“It cannot be remade, Fraulein. It is beyond repairing.” He paused. “Though I can not help but wonder Fraulein,”   
You look into his warm blue eyes and realise for a second that he is looking down at you with a curious glance. “What such a ring meant to you. It was obviously important,”  
You take a deep breath, and look down.   
“It was important once.”  
“Ah.”   
You stare at the water, an awkward moment of silence as you build yourself up to answer him, fearing the next question.  
“You don’t have to tell--”  
“It was my Fiance’s.” You blurt out suddenly, then turn to look at him and raise a hand to your mouth in shock. “I mean, my ex-Fiance’s.”  
“You were to be married? And you had me destroy your ring?”   
The look on his face cuts you to your heart, and you reach out an arm to touch him, but he moves back and removes you from his lap with a rushed and somewhat ungraceful movement of his arms.  
“I was to be married,” you begin to explain as he starts to slide back into the water, his copper-red tail glinting orange under the slightly murky water. “In fact, I would’ve been married by now if things had been different.”  
You can’t bear to look him in the face, but sit at the edge of the tower with your hands clenched on the roof.  
“Everything was perfect when he proposed, like a dream.” You say, as your eyes grow a little misty with tears. “And it was perfect for a while. We went through the planning, the preparation, the guests… but then things started going wrong. Maybe I could’ve changed things if I’d noticed then, but I was too caught up in the romance, the thrill of finally being loved by someone.”  
The tears are rolling down your face and the Merman, now submerged up to his shoulders rests an arm on the tower’s edge. He doesn’t say anything, but he stares up at you cautiously.  
“I was so focused on trying to do what was in the stories, that I didn’t notice how crookéd the whole thing was. When the wedding day came, I stood there for eight hours waiting for him to come through that church door, apologising for being delayed by a broken down car, or a traffic jam, or even to just to walk through that door. But he never came.”  
The wind was rather cold, and you hugged your coat tighter around you.  
“I should go. You don’t need to hear my story.”   
You stand up, rather quickly, and turn to go, but the tower edge is covered in watery moss, and you twist awkwardly and fall backwards into the water with a yelp of surprise.  
The water is shockingly cold, and you slam your right knee against the walls, letting loose a gush of air bubbles in shock and pain. Not even a second later, the Merman dives down to you and pulls you up to the air.  
“Are you alright, Fraulein?” He immediately asks you when you surface, spluttering and coughing up water and trying to get the lakewater out of your eyes.  
“It’s cold!” You shout out, writhing to get towards the tower.   
“Calm down,” the merman says, as you grab ahold of him, “You’re wriggling like an Eel!”  
“I’m not a natural swimmer!” you cry out, and try to awkwardly use him as a boost to the roof, but you fall backwards once again, splashing his face.  
Surfacing yet again, you gasp for air and go to try once more, but the Merman places a large warm hand on your arm and prevents you from trying.  
“You will hurt yourself if you try that once more. Please, permit me to carry you to shore, Fraulein,”  
You tread the water cautiously, then realise just how much pain your knee is in. Crap. “If you’d be okay with it?”  
“I would be glad to Fraulein,” he beams at you, radiating warmth as he chuckles. “It is much more preferable than to be climbed over.”   
You reach out and place your arms around his shoulders, and are immediately surrounded by the comforting warmth of his body. The Merman cups an arm and hand underneath your legs and with a flick of his powerful tail he propels himself towards the shore.  
“How is it that you are so warm?” You ask him, dazedly as your nose is pinched by the brisk cold air.  
“I am warm?” The Merman wonders aloud, as he halts mid-stroke, drifting for a few paces before he stops.   
“You are the warmest person I’ve ever met. It’s comforting.” you mumble, as you rest your head on his shoulder.  
The Merman looks towards the shore briefly. It’s not too far off for him to swim you that distance, but then he looks down at you with a slightly bemused face.  
“You don’t have to return, you know.” he mutters, looking into your contented face. “You could stay here, with me if you wanted.”  
You open your eyes warily and read his face. He seems genuine enough to you, and you do see a slight pink tint to his cheeks as he changes how he holds you in the water, holding you delicately.  
“You could heal your wounded heart.”  
The first emotion you feel is the sting of shock. Is he really suggesting that you stay in the forest with him-- a Merman? The second emotion, is a wariness that panics, Does he really want to keep you around- is he really that genuinely interested? The third, a small desperate voice whispers to you; Would you let me?  
Hesitatingly, you look up at this sweet natured merman with an unguarded smile, then your eyes widen with realisation as you look down,  
“But how would I live?”  
The Merman places a warm hand on your face as he brings your face up to look at him. His face is kindly, and beams rays of happiness from him.  
“I could turn you into a Mermaid. That way, we could stay together.”  
Become a Mermaid? The dream of countless young girls was being offered to you. Your heart leapt.   
“Will it hurt?”  
“I can not say it won’t, Fraulein.”   
You pause for a second, “Tell me your name.”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“I want to know your name before I say yes.” you say, holding onto his hands.  
The Merman’s face lights up almost immediately, then he bashfully introduces himself. “My name is Reinhardt. May I know yours, Bitte?”   
“My name is Y/N, and I want to stay with you.”  
No sooner have the words left your mouth, than Reinhardt seizes you in a great bear-hug and exuberantly kisses your cheek.  
He takes you by the hand to the centre of the lake, where he begins your transformation, and within the hour, you sport a fine silvery-blue tail where your legs have fused together and become fins.  
Your first few strokes are hesitant at first, and you cling to him for balance as you flounder in the lake. But with his guidance and protection, you become a fine Mermaid, and eventually the wound in your heart that was caused by the long-forgotten fiance so long ago, finally heals.  
Deep in the Odenwald, nestled in the mountainous uplands of the Kurfürstentum von der Pfalz, lay the crumbling ruins of a Castle partially submerged in the Eutersee. And in that lake there lived two happy Merpeople.

FIN  
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End file.
